Mary Cries the wind

[DreamTheaterRules]

Yep, Mary will be crying in DTRs music room… in a couple days. Got one for Christmas and opened it right before we left for my daughters house.

I can’t wait to try this thing!

 

[RickP]

Congrats on yours! I’m impressed with it. I think you will be too… the sound of the box has a quality to it like srudio gear. They did a good job on it.

 

[dmatthews]

Dayum fine, congrats and Merry Christmas!

 

[László]

 

[bodia]

Nice! Looking forward to your th on it

 

[DreamTheaterRules]

Quick initial impressions: While more testing is certainly warranted before final thoughts can be issued, my initial impressions are that this thing is pretty much what Paul said it was. Really sounds like a great studio comp!! Very quiet for a compressor. I played it last night with one rig. NF3>pedal board>Bogner ATMA. Used clean channel and 70s and 80s gain channels. I dialed the clean from full to partial blackface, to the middle, then partial to full Tweed. This comp is outstanding on the clean channel. I tried 2-3 settings on the comp, and all sounded outstanding. Adds some sparkle, super clean and incredibly quiet. Works incredibly well as a “leave it on all the time” or as a solo boost for the clean channel. I used it with multiple ODs on the clean channel and it works its magic with every one that I tried.

Worked equally well with gain on the OD channels. More testing with more setups will follow of course, but so far, this thing is incredible! As of now, I’d say the best comp I’ve ever used.

 

[phillybri]

There's just something about Mary...

 

[JasonE]

I would like to try one of these up against a few that I purchased earlier this year. I am actually waiting on another compressor pedal to get here. I bought it about a month ago. They are having some issues with getting some of the parts for it so they dried up and are all on backorder now. I really only use a compressor on certain occasions but I sure have plenty of them to choose from now...

 

[László]

All the demos I've heard of that thing sound great, much like an LA-2A if the LA-2A was a transistor box like the LA-3A.

That'd be the one I'd get if I didn't already have the Suhr compressor (it also sounds good, but is a bit "grabbier", more like an 1176).

 

[Bogner]

The Thread Title Had Me Thinking Another Restraining Order.

Congrats On Your New Box!

 

[alantig]

Quick initial impressions: While more testing is certainly warranted before final thoughts can be issued, my initial impressions are that this thing is pretty much what Paul said it was. Really sounds like a great studio comp!! Very quiet for a compressor. I played it last night with one rig. NF3>pedal board>Bogner ATMA. Used clean channel and 70s and 80s gain channels. I dialed the clean from full to partial blackface, to the middle, then partial to full Tweed. This comp is outstanding on the clean channel. I tried 2-3 settings on the comp, and all sounded outstanding. Adds some sparkle, super clean and incredibly quiet. Works incredibly well as a “leave it on all the time” or as a solo boost for the clean channel. I used it with multiple ODs on the clean channel and it works its magic with every one that I tried.

Worked equally well with gain on the OD channels. More testing with more setups will follow of course, but so far, this thing is incredible! As of now, I’d say the best comp I’ve ever used.

If you turn the gain on the Mary way up, it goes into an overdrive/distortion mode. Very cool.

 

[aamefford]

There's just something about Mary...

So there’s a thread over on TGP about a lock of hair found taped inside the control cover of a Les Paul bought used. This clip shows up, along with conjecture that the previous owner put a lock of his lover, wife or child’s hair lovingly in his guitar. Or he/she is a serial killer.

Ok, back to the OP. Glad to hear about the compressor working out.

 

[DreamTheaterRules]

If you turn the gain on the Mary way up, it goes into an overdrive/distortion mode. Very cool.

I didn’t try that, but I will!

 

[gush]

Quick initial impressions: While more testing is certainly warranted before final thoughts can be issued, my initial impressions are that this thing is pretty much what Paul said it was. Really sounds like a great studio comp!! Very quiet for a compressor. I played it last night with one rig. NF3>pedal board>Bogner ATMA. Used clean channel and 70s and 80s gain channels. I dialed the clean from full to partial blackface, to the middle, then partial to full Tweed. This comp is outstanding on the clean channel. I tried 2-3 settings on the comp, and all sounded outstanding. Adds some sparkle, super clean and incredibly quiet. Works incredibly well as a “leave it on all the time” or as a solo boost for the clean channel. I used it with multiple ODs on the clean channel and it works its magic with every one that I tried.

Worked equally well with gain on the OD channels. More testing with more setups will follow of course, but so far, this thing is incredible! As of now, I’d say the best comp I’ve ever used.

Sounds like I need to get one of these. I'll wait for more reports from you before I actually buy it.

 

[JasonE]

All the demos I've heard of that thing sound great, much like an LA-2A if the LA-2A was a transistor box like the LA-3A.

That'd be the one I'd get if I didn't already have the Suhr compressor (it also sounds good, but is a bit "grabbier", more like an 1176).

Which Suhr do you have? I ordered the Woodshed about a month ago when I found a shop that had them on sale for black Friday. Unfortunately, they oversold on them and couldn't fill all of the orders. They told me they were expecting a shipment in about a week and they could either do a refund or ship on when they got them in. I told them I would wait for it. You never see them on sale. I am still waiting and I see they have dried up on Reverb. I found out that they are having supply chain issues. They can't get the PCBs and are waiting for them. I will probably see the pedal some time in January.

I also made a impulse purchase of the Walrus Audio MIRA optical compressor yesterday. They severely over built on them and they didn't sell like they thought they would so they are blowing them out at $103 on Sweetwater and Amazon. It has a cool sidechain filter on it.

 

[shinksma]

Mary Cries is definitely one of those effects (especially compressors) that (if not driven into overdrive) doesn't sound like it is doing anything...until you turn it off. Then you say "aha", and realize it is doing stuff, most effectively. (Pun mildly intended.)

 

[JasonE]

Mary Cries is definitely one of those effects (especially compressors) that (if not driven into overdrive) doesn't sound like it is doing anything...until you turn it off. Then you say "aha", and realize it is doing stuff, most effectively. (Pun mildly intended.)

And IMHO, that is exactly how a compressor should be setup. One reason I have never been a fan of the Ross compressor is it is very difficult if not impossible to get to this point with it. It is always too much compression for me. That is why I really want a threshold control on a compressor. I don't really want a blend knob on mine. That is kind of a cheat in my book. That is parallel compression, not quite the same thing. The reason they started doing that is a lot of people don't know how to set up a compressor or the compressor is like the Ross and this is a way for them to recover the transient to sound more natural.

 

[László]

Which Suhr do you have?

I’ve had a few of their pedals for several years. The compressor is the Koji Comp. I don’t know if these are still in their lineup.

They sound great to me, and the enclosures are anodized machined aluminum, so they’re very rugged.

From left to right on the top shelf after the tuner are Suhr’s Alexa chorus, Jack Rabbit tremolo, the Koji compressor, and the Kokoboost Reloaded boost with a sweepable mid boost feature that can be switched in.

I put this board together five years ago; the only changes since were cables with smaller plugs this year to have a little more room just in case something comes up, and the Pettyjohn Edge (I'm not sure when I got it, maybe 2-3 years ago?).

Nice little rundown of features:

 

[sergiodeblanc]

I’ve had a few of their pedals for several years. The compressor is the Koji Comp. I don’t know if these are still in their lineup.

They sound great to me, and the enclosures are anodized machined aluminum, so they’re very rugged.

From left to right on the top shelf after the tuner are Suhr’s Alexa chorus, Jack Rabbit tremolo, the Koji compressor, and the Kokoboost Reloaded boost with a sweepable mid boost feature that can be switched in.

I put this board together five years ago; the only changes since were cables with smaller plugs this year to have a little more room just in case something comes up, and the Pettyjohn Edge (I'm not sure when I got it, maybe 2-3 years ago?).

Nice little rundown of features:

I like the look of that Peterson tuner.

I almost bought one of the vintage model 400’s off the old man I bought my MiniMoog and RMI from, but he wanted $500 for it.


… and I had already spent $200 apiece for the Moog and Rhodes.

 

[JasonE]

I’ve had a few of their pedals for several years. The compressor is the Koji Comp. I don’t know if these are still in their lineup.

They sound great to me, and the enclosures are anodized machined aluminum, so they’re very rugged.

From left to right on the top shelf after the tuner are Suhr’s Alexa chorus, Jack Rabbit tremolo, the Koji compressor, and the Kokoboost Reloaded boost with a sweepable mid boost feature that can be switched in.

I put this board together five years ago; the only changes since were cables with smaller plugs this year to have a little more room just in case something comes up, and the Pettyjohn Edge (I'm not sure when I got it, maybe 2-3 years ago?).

Nice little rundown of features:

Nice! The Koji is still in the current lineup. I had a Riot years ago. It was very well made. It just wasn't the drive for me at that time. I have looked at a couple of the reloaded drives they made but have not pulled the trigger on any of those to date.

Pettyjohn has a drive that really intrigued me. It is the Gold MKII. I have been mulling over what I really would like in a drive pedal to make it the perfect drive for me. I have been thinking of drawing it up and getting some PCBs made and building it. Then I saw that Pettyjohn built something similar to what I have been thinking and this is it. I wondered why nobody put a mid sweep on an OD pedal like is used in analog mixwers. This would really help tailor it to your amp and whether you wanted to push the mids a bit or keep them more flat. I also thought about wanting to be able to select soft and hard clipping so you can tailor the sound of the drive itself. I don't think their pedal does that.